Column: Electric dreams turn into a nightmare for battery metals
A sector that was once racing to build new supply has been closing mines and deferring projects as low prices bite into the cost curve.
Gold continued its march lower on Tuesday, while global equity markets steadied after the previous day’s rout.
Spot bullion was down about 1%, falling after US data showed a June trade deficit of $73.1 billion — slightly larger than the median estimate of 44 economists. The drop follows a 1.3% fall on Monday amid broader market chaos.
A rebounding US dollar and a pullback in expectations of rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve are also weighing on the yellow metal. Meanwhile, exchange-traded funds added 125,101 troy ounces of gold to their holdings in the last trading session.
Monday’s market chaos likely put pressure on traders to liquidate some gold positions to cover margin calls on other assets. Prices fell as much as 3.2% before paring some of those losses.
Still, bullion hit an all-time high just a few weeks ago and despite the recent declines it’s still up by more than 15% so far this year. Expectations of rate cuts by the Fed — traditionally seen as supportive for non-yielding gold — and buying by central banks are among the key price supports.
Precious metals were “dragged down by the general panic mood on the markets at the start of the week,” according to a Tuesday report from Commerzbank AG. Along with overblown expectations of Fed rate cuts, selling to compensate for losses in other assets may have also been behind gold’s recent weakness, it said.
Spot gold fell to $2,385.84 an ounce by 11:13 a.m. in New York. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose, as did US 10-year Treasury yields. Palladium and platinum were up, while silver fell.
(By Jack Wittels)
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